A border fence that was built along a portion of Arizona's border with Mexico resulted in a 94 percent decrease in illegal border crossings, a former deputy chief of the Border Patrol told a Senate panel.

The Washington Examiner obtained a preview of Ronald Colburn's testimony that was to be given in front of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Tuesday. In it, Colburn said a border wall or fence can be very effective.

Regarding a fence that was constructed in Yuma, Ariz., Colburn said, "By 2008, Yuma Sector arrests of illicit border crossers and traffickers had dwindled from over 138,000 down to 8,363. The known attempts to enter and the got-aways dwindled to an equally minimal number compared to the hundreds of thousands that entered and evaded arrest in previous years."

Colburn added that the fence resulted in just six vehicles trying to enter the U.S. illegally in one year — down from 2,706, amounting to a 94 percent drop. All of the people in those six vehicles, he said, were either captured or turned away by the Border Patrol.

President Donald Trump is trying to have a border wall constructed between the U.S. and Mexico, an idea that has come under fire from Democrats and immigrant groups.

A border fence that was built along a portion of Arizona's border with Mexico resulted in a 94 percent decrease in illegal border crossings, a former deputy chief of the Border Patrol told a Senate panel.